


Better Days

by lunarknightz



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Engagement, F/M, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Marriage, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 13:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8146001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: After Serenity, Simon starts to build a new life.  This fic was inspired by a bit of trivia on IMDB-During the funeral scene, Kaylee wears a medallion with the Chinese symbol for marriage.





	

It seemed like a lifetime since he’d been onboard Serenity. It had only been three days, but in those three days, everything had changed. Simon felt like a stranger in Serenity’s halls now; almost more than he’d been when he first stepped onboard, back in Persephone. 

Was it really over? Was the Alliance going to let River and him go free? As the Alliance doctors had treated his wounds in their opulent med bay, he kept expecting someone to take him away and throw him in the brig. No one did, and he’d been able to walk, or rather limp, off the ship with the rest of his crewmates. 

His quarters were a disaster, as the rough flights had caused things to fall or break open. Simon started to bend over and pick up some of the objects, but a gentle pain in his stomach reminded him that he should be allowing that wound of his a little more time to heal. Apparently, doctors did make the worst patients, as the old adage had long claimed. 

Simon gently sat down on his bed, idly wondering what would come next. He was free now. There was no longer a bounty on his head. River was getting better. They could go back home. He dismissed that thought immediately. Long ago, he’d passed the point of being able to return to Osiris. Even if he could reconcile with his parents, even if he could get hired back at the hospital- that life wouldn’t suit him anymore. He’d outgrown it. 

Rescuing River and stepping onboard Serenity were the first things he’d ever done on his own in his life. No one pushed him, no one pulled any strings; the plans went awry, but they were his plans. He couldn’t go back there, and be the obedient son his parents wanted, the model doctor of Osiris society. 

Somewhere along this trip, Simon had grown to like being a shipboard doctor. He liked Serenity’s adventures; he loved the thrill of adrenaline at a job gone well; the satisfaction at healing someone who would have died without his ready help. 

Gingerly, Simon picked up a drawer that now rested near the head of his bed. This drawer kept the few keepsakes Simon had taken from home when he’d started this crazy journey. Most had little value- ticket stubs to his favorite opera; a picture River had drawn him when she was 3, a letter from his best friend in med school. He reached in and took one object out- the object was wrapped in soft silk.

He unwrapped it carefully. Inside was a small worn, medallion, inscribed with the Chinese lettering from marriage. It had been his Grandmother’s- Grandmother Tam, his father’s mother. Simon had a special bond with his Grandmother- she was the one person in his life who didn’t expect anything of Simon. She was the lone free spirit in the carefully regimented Tam universe.

Grandmother had worn the small token around her neck always, even though it clashed with her fancy dresses and expensive jewels. The medallion, she’d explained to a tiny Simon, was a gift from her husband, his grandfather, given when he proposed. His Tam grandparents had grown up on a small planet on the Outer Rim. Grandfather Tam had proposed to Grandmother as he was leaving their home world to make a name for himself, a fortune. All the money he possessed went towards his trip; he had no money for a diamond ring. The medallion had served as their engagement ring, and his grandmother wore it everyday of her life from that day forward- as Grandfather returned and took her to a luxurious life on Osiris, as their children and grandchildren were born. 

When she died, Grandmother had willed the necklace to Simon. He’d treasured it ever since. He was relieved that it had made it through the mess unharmed.

As he rubbed his finger over the surface of medallion, it occurred to him why Grandmother had left him the medallion. He knew exactly how he would use it.

 

***

 

“Simon.” Kaylee blushed slighty as they ran into each other in the hallway. Kaylee’s injuries had not been as severe, and she had been released from the Alliance’s medical care before Simon- right after River, Inara and Jayne. Zoe and the Captain were still under medical care. “You’re back.”

“I’m back.” He looked at her face, and thought that it was the most beautiful thing in the world. “I just got back a little while ago.”

“So I guess you’re healing fine, then?”

He nodded. It was awkward; awkward to talk to the girl you loved for the first time after you both almost died. He hadn’t told her how he’d felt, the last thing he’d said to her was that he regretted not having sex with her. Who says something like that? Even Jayne had better come on lines than that.

“You’re looking well.” 

“I wish I could say the same for my girl.” Kaylee sighed. “She’s a right bloomin’ mess, I’ll tell you that.”

“You’ll fix it.” He shrugged. “You always do.”

“Well, my Momma always said, when ya got a gift, ya better get as much out of it as ya can, so I reckon that’s what I gotta do.” She smiled. “Have you seen ‘Nara about?”

He shook his head. “You’re the first soul I’ve seen since I stepped back onboard. Wonder where everyone is?”

He shrugged. “If I see Inara, I’ll let her know you’re looking for her.”

“Thanks.” Kaylee started to walk away.

As she turned away, Simon remembered Kaylee being hit by the Reaver’s poison darts. The look on her face; the fear he’d felt rising up in his gut. She’d almost died. Death wasn’t far from them still; as memories of Shepard Book and Wash haunted Serenity’s halls. Mal had been intensive care, pretty damn bad off by the time the doctors got to him, and the captain had just regained consciousness as Simon was leaving the med bay. Death could come to claim them at anytime. Would he want to die without kissing Kaylee?

“Hey.” Simon reached out and grabbed Kaylee’s hand, causing her to spin into his arms. “I…when I…I always say the wrong words, but…” He faltered slightly. “I came pretty damn close to dying back there. And if I die, when I die, I don’t want it to be without kissing you.”

Simon leaned over and covered her lips with his own. She tasted good, of strawberries and sweetness. He couldn’t get enough, he kissed her over and over again, on her lips, on her cheek, on her neck. Why in the hell had he waited so long? 

Kaylee gave as good as she got, and before he knew it, Simon had Kaylee pinned up against the wall. A simple first kiss had turned into a full fledged make out session, and it might have gone farther if the sounds of Inara, River, and Jayne laughing didn’t interrupt them.

 

***

 

“You awake?” He whispered, not wanting to wake the others. 

“Yeah.” She said softly, from her pallet on the floor. 

Inara, Jayne, River, Simon, and Kaylee were all sleeping in the mess area. The mess area had made it through their adventure relatively undamaged or unchanged. While Simon could reach his bunk, and Kaylee could get enter her abode, The shuttle Inara had once called home was hidden behind a bunch of rubble, as was Jayne’s bunk; and they’d started sleeping in the mess when they returned. Plus, Simon figured, no one wanted to be alone in a ship that held dead bodies and Reaver markings. Just a bit too creepy.

“Want some tea?” 

“Yeah.”

They carefully tip-toed around their crewmates, and Simon grabbed a candle and lit it. Kaylee fixed tea and carefully poured two cups.

Together, they walked to the table and sat down. 

“You look like you’ve got a bee up your bonnet.”

Simon sighed. “I’m fine, bao-bei.”

“I like hearing you say that.” Kaylee giggled. “Just about sounds like perfection.”

“I’m looking at perfection in the candlelight.”

Kaylee blushed. “Simon.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “I’ve been stupid, Kaylee.”

“What? You’re the smartest person I’ve ever known.”

Simon’s heart beat fast at the praise. “Book smarts, maybe. But when it comes to living, I’m as dumb as anything.”

“I’m not understanding what you’re meaning.”

Simon dug into his pocket and withdrew a small satiny object. “I’ve…When I’m with you, Kaylee, um,” he took a deep breath. “I can do this. It’s nothing compared to the supervisor of my residency…” He looked up at her face. “I’ve realized that life is way too gorram short to let my fear keep me from the best thing in my life. You are the brightest part of my life, Kaylee, and you make me happy in a way that I never even thought was possible. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I’ll have to. And though I know it’s early, and we haven’t even really been dating, but why do we need to date when I know you and you know me, and….Kaylee, will you marry me?”

Kaylee’s mouth dropped open. She was silent for several moments, when finally managed to speak after a series of high pitched squeaks, she managed to say “Hoo-tsuh!”

Being told, literally, to shut up, was the last thing Simon expected. He began to panic. “What does that mean?”

Kaylee leaned over and kissed him deeply, pressing her body close to his. “It’s a yes.”

“Shut up means yes?”

“Simon, hoo-tsuh and kiss me.”

He gladly complied.

When they broke apart, Kaylee caressed his face with her hands, rubbing his cheeks. “I just got so excited, I didn’t know what to say. I love you, Simon, and I reckon I always will.”

Simon smiled until a sudden revelation hit him. “I propositioned you for sex before I’d even kissed you, and now I propose without even telling you that I love you? I’m doing this all wrong!” He groaned.

“Nonsense. It works just fine for us now, doesn’t it? We ain’t ever been what they call a normal couple, but we’re here together, ain’t we? It’s just you and me, Simon, and that’s all that matters. Us. It works.”

“I love you, you know that?”

She nodded. “I do.”

The phrase “I do” reminded Simon of the satin covered bundle. “I um, have something for you.” He handed Kaylee the bundle. “I don’t have enough money to buy you a diamond right now, but maybe one day, if we pull off a big enough job, I’ll get you one. I just wish I had some of the money from back home, because then I could buy you all the marble halls and diamond sunbursts in the ‘verse.”

“Silly. I don’t need marble halls or diamond sunbursts. I just need you.” She said, unwrapping the gift.

“It’s beautiful.” She said, holding the medallion in her hands. She looked at the symbol. “Marriage.” She translated aloud.

“My grandfather made it, for my grandmother. He proposed when he was going off world to seek his fortune, and he gave it to her when he couldn’t afford a ring. He got her this big honking one too, that my cousin Isobel inherited, but she still wore this necklace, everyday until she died.”

“There isn’t a diamond in the ‘verse as shiny as this, Simon. I love it.” Kaylee kissed her betrothed.

 

***

 

Simon squeezed Kaylee’s hands as the crew held last rites for its’ fallen members and friends on Haven. Serenity had made a slow and limping beeline to Haven just as soon as Zoe and Mal were released from medical care. 

They hadn’t announced their engagement, officially, to the crew yet. Kaylee was certain that Inara knew something was up; and River definitely sensed something, as she was always humming a wedding march under her breath when Kaylee was around. 

For the time being, they downplayed their relationship, not wanting to rub salt in Zoe’s wounds. It would have seemed wrong, to get married right after Zoe lost her husband. Eventually they would get married. Kaylee wanted Mal, as the Captain of the ship, to perform the ceremony. Simon just wanted to make Kaylee happy.

Fireworks shot off in the sky above the graves. A celebration of beauty and wonder, a celebration of the lives of Hoban Washburne, Mr. Universe, and Shepherd Book; juxtaposed oddly with the mourning of their deaths. 

Life was a lot like that, Simon realized. Hope and Despair, Tragedy and Celebration, all never more than a hair away from each other. Lately, he had seen more tragedy than a soul should have to see. 

They all had.

As he watched the sky light up, Kaylee squeezed his hand gently. 

Surrounded by his makeshift family; the crew of Serenity, arm in arm with the love of his life, his fiancé, Simon had hope.

There would be better days again.

**Author's Note:**

> Written November 2005.


End file.
